1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle seat, and more particularly, to a vehicle seat that is designed to also act as a wheelchair so that elderly or handicapped passengers can easily get into or out of a vehicle without getting off the wheelchair.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of improvements have been made to known vehicle seats to enable passengers, such as elderly or handicapped persons, to easily get into or out of a vehicle. For example, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication Nos. 5-40027 and 7-4149, a vehicle seat has been described in which a seat body can rotate from a position facing the front of the vehicle (hereinafter referred to as a xe2x80x98first positionxe2x80x99) to a position facing a door opening (hereinafter referred to as a xe2x80x98second positionxe2x80x99). In addition, the seat body is also longitudinally movable. When the passenger gets into the vehicle using this vehicle seat, the seat body is first moved forward while being rotated from the first position to the second position. After the seat body has been rotated to the second position, the passenger can sit in the seat body and the seat body is then moved rearward while being rotated from the second position back to the first position. On the other hand, when the passenger gets out of the vehicle, the seat body is moved forward with the passenger sitting on the seat body while being rotated from the first position to the second position. After the seat body has been rotated to the second position, the passenger must get off the seat.
Although passengers can easily get into or out of the vehicle using such a known vehicle seat, passengers in wheelchairs will still have some difficulty in getting into and out of the vehicle, because the passenger must move from the wheelchair to the seat body and vice versa.
It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide an improved vehicle seat that is designed so that even an elderly or handicapped passenger in a wheelchair can easily get into or out of the vehicle.
Preferable, a vehicle seat has a seat unit that can be used as a wheelchair outside the vehicle and as a passenger seat inside the vehicle. Moreover, a lift-up mechanism may be provided inside the vehicle in order to move the seat unit from the outside of the vehicle to the inside of the vehicle and vice versa. Such a seat does not require the passenger to change from a fixed vehicle seat inside the vehicle to a wheelchair outside the vehicle and vice versa, thereby making it easier for such a passenger to enter and exit a vehicle. In addition, various modifications of this basic inventive concept will be introduced to teach seat units that can be moved from the outside of a vehicle to the inside of the vehicle and vice versa.
Preferred vehicle seats may include a connecting recess provided in the seat unit and a connection plate provided in the lift-up mechanism. The connection plate may be inserted into the connecting recess to form a connecting unit. Thus, the lift-up mechanism can be easily and conveniently connected to the seat unit. Further, the connecting portion may be designed so as not to be visible from the outside, thereby providing an attractive appearance for the vehicle interior. More preferably, the vehicle seat may have a lock in order to lock the connection plate and the connecting recess in the connected state.
Preferred seat units for use with such vehicle seats may include a mechanism that retracts and extends front wheels and rear wheels attached to the vehicle seat. If both the front and rear wheels can be retracted or extended when either set of wheels is retracted or extended, the wheel retracting or extending operations can be simplified.
In addition or in the alternative, preferred seat units may include an electrically or otherwise powered drive to retract or extend the front and rear wheels to assist the retraction or extension of the front and rear wheels.
An attitude changing mechanism also may be provided to change the attitude of either the front wheels or the rear wheels into a horizontal position in synchronization with the retracting of the other of the front and rear wheels. The attitude of the front or rear wheels is preferably changed into a horizontal position when moving the seat unit into the vehicle interior, so that the vertical position of the seat unit inside the vehicle can be lowered.
Further, preferred seat units may include either a male prong or a female socket of a power connector. The opposite power connector can be disposed on the lift-up mechanism. The male and female portions may be automatically connected together when the lift-up mechanism is connected to the seat unit. Therefore, power cord connecting and disconnecting operations to connect or disconnect the power cord to supply power of the drive unit can be eliminated. If this aspect is implemented, a positioning device may be provided to position the lift-up mechanism and the seat unit, so that the male portion can be reliably connected to the female portion during the power supply connection operation.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily understood after reading the following detailed description together with the accompanying drawings and the claims.